WSR 14-07-115

[Filed March 19, 2014, 10:38 a.m.]

Title or Subject: Medicaid State Plan Amendment 14-0020.

Effective Date: April 1, 2014.

Description: The health care authority (the agency) intends to submit Medicaid State Plan Amendment 14-0020 to comply with 3ESSB [ESSB] 6002. This legislation directs the agency to restore coverage under the breast and cervical cancer treatment (BCCT) program. The BCCT program was a medicaid program that covered treatment for approximately one thousand two hundred fifty women with incomes under three hundred percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), who were diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer. The program was eliminated on January 1, 2014, when the state expanded the medicaid program to include adults with incomes below one hundred thirty-three percent of the FPL. Clients with incomes below one hundred thirty-three percent of the FPL could enroll in medicaid coverage under the medicaid expansion. Clients with incomes over one hundred thirty-three percent of the FPL that were already enrolled in the program as of January 1, 2014, were allowed [to] retain state-only coverage throughout the course of their treatments. Savings will be achieved because the cost of restoring medicaid coverage for clients with incomes above one hundred thirty-three percent of the FPL is less than the cost of maintaining state-only coverage for clients that were already enrolled as of January 1, 2014.

The agency anticipates an overall increase of approximately $271,000 in the state fiscal year (SFY) annual aggregate expenditures for this program, all of which are federal funds. The agency anticipates a savings of over $1 million in state funds for SFY 2014.

For additional information, contact Stephen Kozak, Eligibility and Service Delivery, P.O. Box 5534, Olympia, WA 98504-5534, phone (360) 725-1343, TDD/TTY 800-848-5429, fax (360) 664-2186, e-mail Stephen.kozak@hca.wa.gov, web site http://www.doh.wa.gov/YouandYourFamily/IllnessandDisease/Cancer/BreastCervicalandColonHealth.aspx.